Tracing Family Branches

On our recent trip to Canberra we stopped at Jugiong in order to visit the Jugiong General Cemetery and locate the grave of my Great Great Great Grandfather James Henderson.  It does seem strange that my Great Great Great Grandmother Bridget Cooney formerly Henderson née Sheridan is buried at the Jugiong Catholic Cemetery while her first husband and son are at the Jugiong General Cemetery.  However her second husband Owen Cooney is buried at the Catholic Cemetery (with his first wife) not far from her grave and another son and one of her daughters are buried with her there too.  On the immigration documents for their voyage to Australia on board the ship Emily in 1850 James Henderson was listed as a thirty year old farm labourer from Convoy, Donegal whose parents Hugh and Isabella were both dead, his religion was stated to be Presbyterian, he could read and write and is it noted that he claimed to have married Bridget Sheridan prior to embarkation.  While Bridget Sh...

 On Friday while on our way to another of my husbands medical appointments in Canberra we made a detour and stopped at Jugiong so I could visit the Jugiong General Cemetery where my great great great Grandfather James Henderson is buried (post to come about this soon).  We had not stopped there on our last visit to Jugiong (see here ) as my husband was in too much pain to do so. After deciding to grab something to eat and drink first, we parked near the Jugiong rest area to have our brunch, which was delicious again from the Long Track Pantry.  I walked over afterwards to have a quick look at the Sergeant Edmund Parry memorial and take some photographs and noticed the plaques on the back of the white pillars that make up the Jugiong War Memorial.  I had never previously stopped to look at it and was surprised to see the names of my Grandfathers brothers and other relatives listed there. Once I got home and had a good look at all of the names on these plaques, so many...

Back in November last year while coming home from one of my husbands medical specialists appointments in Canberra we finally stopped and had a good look at the Jugiong Catholic Cemetery.  Many of my maternal grandfathers family are buried there and I had been wanting to explore it for many years!  When I was a child we would frequently go on wonderful day trips to the Murrumbidgee river at Jugiong, passing the cemetery on our way to our families favourite spot on the river.  I knew family members were buried there but was not overly curious about it, as getting to the river and having a swim were my top priorities at the time.  The cemetery had been recently mowed on the day we went there and so it was easy to find my way around it.  It is quite steep in places and I would recommend wearing good hiking shoes if you are going to explore it. It is a beautiful cemetery and I hope to explore it further some time in the future as we had to cut the trip short as my hu...

My 3x Great Grandmother Bridget Cooney was born c.1827 in Ireland, the daughter of William and Jane Sheridan.  After leaving her parents in Convoy, Donegal, Ireland she arrived in Australia on 9 September 1850 on board the ship Emily with her first husband James Henderson. James Henderson was born c.1820 in Ireland, the son of Hugh and Isabella Henderson.  His native place was also Convoy, Donegal and according to documentation his parents were both deceased by the time he left for Australia in 1850. Unfortunately James died on 22nd January 1859 leaving Bridget with a young family to support, he was buried in the General Cemetery at Jugiong, New South Wales.  In 1865 Bridget married the widower Owen Cooney, a native of Cavan, Ireland, he died on 21 November 1899.  Bridget died on the 20 October 1904 and was buried in the Catholic section of Jugiong Cemetery with her daughter Martha McAlister nee Henderson and son John Henderson. . Source: Mrs. Owen Cooney...